2.20.2012

Movie Review: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)Viewed: Theater
As I sat in the theater waiting for the movie start a Father walked in with what looked to be triplets. Three blonde girls I assumed to be 3 to 4 years old each with matching coats and purses. I thought to myself for a moment that maybe I had gone into the wrong theater. A man sitting in front of me turned and gave me this look like is the theater for "Ghost Rider" right? From then on the girls were nothing but chatter boxes as the trailers played before the movie but as soon as the movie started they were dead silent and that silence never broke even after the credits rolled and the lights came up. The girls quietly followed their father out of the theater. I can only assume they were terrified. Yes this Father brought his little girls to see bulgy eyed angry Nicolas Cage set on fire.

Which is the exact reason I went to see this movie. To see bulgy eyed angry Nicolas Cage set on fire and this movie does it well. The plot doesn't really matter but the main idea is that the Ghost Rider must stop the devil. The Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor, do what they do best in creating a ballsy over the top movie that plays to Nicolas Cage's strengths: Being Angry, Yelling, Bulgy Eyes, silly dialogue. Everything that makes most Nicolas Cage movies notoriously bad is set a blaze as we see Nicolas cage let loose. My favorite scene being when Nicolas Cage is interrogating a man for information and threatening him by saying he can't control the rider and then goes into this crazy motorcycle ride where the transition from Cage to Rider is shown. There's also a couple of animated sequences that are enjoyable and a nice callback to the comics (I assume I haven't read them so don't hate me if I'm completely wrong).
Although the movie is comes off very serious there are very funny moments throughout that make it so bad-ass. One joke in particular is very very funny and classic "Crank" style.

Judgement Sentence: A must see for any Nicolas Cage fan or fan of the "Crank Brothers."